President Donald Trump is set to descend on Capitol Hill for his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday, as his administration faces growing outcry over its nationwide immigration crackdown and declining support for several of his key policies.

Trump’s high-stakes speech comes just days after the Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to the centerpiece of his economic and foreign policy agenda, ruling his sweeping tariffs illegal. The president is also staring down brewing conflict abroad, with an immense military buildup in the Middle East amid threats toward Iran, and an ongoing partial government shutdown impacting the Department of Homeland Security.

Amid a stark backdrop — and just months before kicking off festivities for America’s 250th anniversary — Trump will be tasked with highlighting his administration’s biggest wins in his first year back in office and shoring up support with key voter blocs ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Here’s what you need to know before Trump delivers his highly anticipated address to Congress — and the nation:

How can I watch the speech?
Trump’s State of the Union speech is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. The address will be broadcast on major television networks and available to stream online, including on Blue Light News’s website. You can follow our live coverage of the address here.

What will Trump talk about?
Trump said Monday that his address is “going to be a long speech because we have so much to talk about,” hinting that his remarks will likely touch on the state of the economy. The White House has attempted to keep Trump on message about affordability ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, with the president offering a preview of his possible remarks during a Thursday rally in Georgia.

“They would say affordability, everybody would say, ‘Oh, Trump caused–,’ no, they cause– they caused the affordability problem,” Trump said at the rally. “And we’ve solved it. And we’re going still lower, but we’ve solved it.”

Several Republicans told Blue Light News they hope Trump will focus on highlighting economic issues, American energy dominance and the tax cuts passed in last year’s GOP megabill during his address.

The president’s job approval has slid in recent months, with numerous polls revealing widespread disapproval of his handling of immigration and the economy — two issues that helped propel Trump back to a second term in the White House.

Who is attending?
Lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, members of Trump’s family and several administration officials, including Cabinet secretaries and Vice President JD Vance, are expected to attend. Several personal guests of the president will also be at the Capitol, including Turning Point CEO Erika Kirk, widow of the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.

Supreme Court justices are also invited to the State of the Union, although Trump sniped at several of the justices who voted to strike down his tariffs last week, telling reporters Friday: “I couldn’t care less if they come.”

Members of Congress are each permitted to invite a guest to the address, and lawmakers frequently use the invite to draw attention to high-profile issues. Some Democrats — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — have announced that they’ll bring survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as their guests. Many Republicans are bringing guests who benefited from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year.

Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed Tuesday the U.S. men’s hockey team will attend Trump’s address, although the women’s team said it would not participate due to scheduling issues.

Who won’t be there?
More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have announced that they won’t attend Trump’s State of the Union, with several choosing to attend a counterprogramming rally on the National Mall instead.

The event, dubbed the “People’s State of the Union,” will feature lawmakers who also skipped Trump’s inaugurations, including Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).

Jeffries advised Democrats during a private leadership meeting earlier this month that members of his caucus should either attend alternative programming or sit in “silent defiance” of Trump’s speech, hoping to avoid the image of Democratic hecklers during last year’s address.

Lawmakers from both parties are also facing weather-related delays in traveling back to Washington after a winter storm led the House to cancel Monday votes.

Who is giving the Democratic response?
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger is set to deliver the official Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s address Tuesday night.

Spanberger, a former CIA officer who served in the House from 2019-2025, defeated GOP nominee Winsome Earle-Sears to flip the Virginia governor’s mansion blue in November. Democrats widely lauded her campaign for its focus on affordability.

Spanberger hinted last week that her response will likely center on those issues, writing in a statement that “Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) — California’s first Latino senator and the son of Mexican immigrants — will deliver the Democratic response in Spanish.

As President Donald Trump prepared to deliver his State of the Union Address Tuesday night, top Democratic lawmakers emerged from a classified briefing on Iran and urged him to explain how he will resolve the standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.

The briefing, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered to House and Senate leadership, as well as the top members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, comes as the administration weighs potential military action against Iran.

Though Trump hasn’t indicated he has made a final decision, he has ordered a huge expansion of U.S. military forces in the Middle East and warned of “really bad things” if a deal isn’t reached with Tehran on its nuclear enrichment program.

“Look, this is serious, and the administration has to make its case to the American people,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the briefing. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries afterward questioned the need for military action, pointing to Trump’s past claims that he had destroyed Tehran’s nuclear program during Operation Midnight Hammer this past summer.

“Part of the concern that I’ve articulated, and will continue to do so, is that the president made the representation that Iran’s nuclear program was completely and totally obliterated last year as a result of actions that the administration has taken,” Jeffries said.

“And so if that, in fact, was true, what is the urgency as of this moment? That’s an open question, and the American people need a real explanation,” he added.

Senate Intelligence Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) called it was “a serious moment” for the Middle East and America. He noted that some of the sailors in the administration’s military buildup are from his state.

“I think it is incumbent upon the president to make the case of what our country’s goals are, what our country’s interests are, and how we’re going to protect American interests in the region,” he said. “Maybe we’ll hear that tonight, but if we don’t hear it tonight, we need to hear it very, very soon.”

On the other side of the aisle, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said “consultation” with Congress “needs to happen” on Iran.

But he said it was unclear what decisions the administration has made on military action.

“There are multiple issues with regard to Iran, one of which is the nuclear program; The other is the ballistic missile program,” Thune said. “It is a dangerous country, and very volatile, as you know, right now.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise held a dinner Monday night with Republican committee chairs and senior White House officials to discuss the GOP legislative agenda ahead of the midterms, according to five people granted anonymity to share details of the private event.

White House deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs James Blair was in attendance at the dinner, held at a Capitol Hill restaurant, alongside the administration’s legislative affairs director James Braid and top House liaison, Jeff Freeland, according to the people.

Blair and White House officials discussed key affordability policy areas they feel are especially salient in a midterm election year, including housing. They also raised health care and economic issues — topics Trump plans to hit on in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

But notably, the people with knowledge of the meeting said the group did not discuss pursuing these priorities through another party-line budget reconciliation package.

Scalise said in an interview Tuesday afternoon he organized the dinner to coordinate with the White House and invited the chairs to share details of the legislation they plan to work on for the rest of the year.

White House officials also gave a rough overview of what to expect from Trump’s State of the Union speech, Scalise continued.

Blair and other White House representatives said the president will laud American greatness ahead of the country’s upcoming 250th birthday, according to Scalise. Trump will also talk about “the mess he inherited from Biden,” including high inflation and rampant illegal border crossings.

Trump will give examples of how he’s working with his Republican majority in Congress to fix a lot of those problems, but “also make clear that the work’s not done,” Scalise said.

He added that Trump’s speech also will preview “what we need to do in the next few months” ahead of the midterms.